Wild general manager Bill Guerin has not yet been cleared by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for his handling of allegations of sexual assault by then-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach Clark Donatelli while an assistant general manager of the Penguins, according to a report by TSN's Rick Westhead.
Former Wilkes-Barre assistant coach Jarrod Skalde first filled a lawsuit against the Penguins last November, alleging that former coach Donatelli sexually assaulted Skalde's wife in 2018 and that Skalde was fired for reporting the incident to the team, violating state whistleblower laws.
In the lawsuit, Skalde said that he reported the incident to Guerin at the NHL Draft in Vancouver in 2019 and later met with a Penguins lawyer to discuss the incident. A week after the draft, in the midst of a development camp in which Donatelli had been permitted by the Penguins to coach and lead the on-ice sessions, the Penguins announced that Donatelli had resigned due to "personal reasons."
The lawsuit says that Guerin then told Skalde "that knowledge of the incident and (Donatelli's) termination had to be suppressed, cautioning that it ‘has to stay quiet and can’t be let out.’"
Skalde himself was fired following the 2019-20 season, with the Penguins citing cutbacks due to COVID-19 as the reason.
Shortly after the filing of the lawsuit became public, Guerin released a statement through the Wild regarding the allegations.
"When I learned of these allegations, I promptly brought them to Pittsburgh Penguins senior management," Guerin said. "The allegations were quickly investigated. I emphatically deny anything to the contrary."
The U.S. Center for SafeSport opened an investigation into Guerin's handling of the allegations, according to a report from Westhead on Oct. 22. The center handles investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct within the U.S. Olympic program, and has the power to impose sanctions such as suspensions or bans on those found to have violated the center's code of conduct.
Guerin was named the assistant general manager of the 2022 U.S. men's Olympic hockey team in March. Last week, general manager Stan Bowman resigned from his position with the Olympic team after an investigation determined that he was one of several Blackhawks executives who failed in their handling of allegations of video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulting player Kyle Beach during the 2010 playoffs.
After Bowman's resignation, The Hockey News reported that Guerin would be named Bowman's replacement.
Westhead reported Monday that the SafeSport investigation into Guerin remains open, and that Guerin won't be promoted to general manager of the Olympic team until he is cleared.
Wild GM Bill Guerin, accused of covering up a sexual assault allegation, won't be appointed US Olympic hockey team GM unless & until he's cleared by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
— Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) November 1, 2021
USA Hockey spokesman told me report Guerin would be cleared imminently was “cart before the horse.”
Separate from the SafeSport investigation into Guerin, the lawsuit filed by Skalde against the Penguins also remains open. On Sept. 30 the Penguins filed a motion for arbitration instead of a jury trial, a motion that was denied by a judge.
